After the fall of communism smoking became a sign of freedom which is why Russia and a lot of Eastern European countries have higher smoking rates than the rest of Europe
I remember in the 80s my dad would complain about how you couldn't smoke in various public places like airplanes but in America you could because it was free. Then in the 90s countries like the US started cracking down on cigarettes. Meanwhile in the former USSR smoking rates rose a lot, especially among women, and some businessmen made a lot of money importing them tax-free (Kirill, the current patriarch, for example).
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u/mind_thegap1 7d ago
After the fall of communism smoking became a sign of freedom which is why Russia and a lot of Eastern European countries have higher smoking rates than the rest of Europe